Old fart needs help with speakers and power req's

246810

25 - 35 years on those speakers?

Routine changes aren't your bag apparently. Good for you.

Stan's notes are right on. Figure out what sound you want and proceed prudently along those lines.

With a record player as source, I'd say tubes somewhere are going to suit you, whether or not you add a CDP to the mix or not.

You did not say another source piece was on the list, so I’ll assume not.

Another take on the 'buy a stereo' idea is to put more $$$ into the front end than into the speakers alone.

Both ideas work and I suspect the 'get better speakers' first camp are all about making improvements upstream thereafter.

if it's all about the original quality of that signal, and I think it is, one needs a great source, very good amplification, and THEN, great speakers. Not the other way 'round. IMHO.

I feel what will very likely happen now with a much fresher amp, better wires, and new speakers, or even preowned units, your source is going to be shown for it’s true self and noticeably so. IOW… more revealing gear will reveal more of the signal that TT is putting out!

I’d rethink the budgetary allocations myself. Shifting just $1,000 from the speaker budget onto the power train, if not a bit more, will be a better solution in the long run. if the remaining $3K is spent on preowned speakers, the signal sent to them from a good preowned $2500 int will be better… noticeably.

Perhaps still better would be placing 3K each into power and speakers with the balance sent towards maybe another TT and cabling. Some excellent speakers are out there for $3K… and it’s a whole other world for ‘ints’ when you hit the $3K class.

If it were me, that’s what I’d do… 3K into the power, and 3K into the transducers. One grand into another source or what ever. Merely pay attention to the power needs of the speakers being considered, and there’s scads of speakers, certainly more than there are amps!

I won’t say which power or speakers though, as that will depend upon individual tastes and room size. So do get out and listen to some setups, and if possible, take some home for brief trials. BTW some online dealers offer just such things.

… and it really is all about the signal being generated… always. Whether one builds a rig from front to back or back to front.

To Rrog, 2 PS Audio Statement SCs, 2 of the model just below them, 3 Qyaide GPX and a bunch of Gutwire B 16, which I sell, or would if anyone ever bought any. Also 2 BPT boxes. This collection was assembled by the scientific method of buying what I thought I would like when the price was right. I don't want to be like Raul, who raises the price of any cartridge he mentions so I have to tell you that they are all terrible and if you have any of them dispose of them at once.[I need some more cords ]. I have WAY to much stuff and am disposing of it by the usual audiophile method of buying replacement components before actually selling any, LOL. Stan

Hey, thanks for the ideas. This is great. But so many speakers and so little time. I had no idea they would be so hard to find. It seems a lot of audio places in my area are by appointment, and while they generally say what brand they carry you don't know if the model you can afford is there.
Plus I'm not a good shopper in the sense that I don't like to bother them if I'm not actually buying.
So after reading a lot of reviews on the speakers, so many seem to say something like, "they were good but really came alive when I gave them like 250 watts". I was just trying to set some power limit and see if there were any that you guys felt were great at that level and then I would go out and listen to them to try and put this thing together.
I have the 4 speakers in that room only because they moved in with me. I stuck with them mainly because I didn't think I had the money to beat them.
The 3000-3000(used) split is something I had not thought of, do you guys buy used equip through this site?
Does tube power equal SS power when a speaker lists how much power they recommend?
Thanks again for your responses, this is a kick.

Whoa.

One-third each rule of thumb: source, amplification, speakers. In that order.

Any good (they are not all) speakers at $4000 are going to reveal all the faults of the source and amplification. And I would go for near-new used gear on Audiogon to get the best value. Suggest keeping the speakers til last. There are tons of great speakers at $2000 used < 3-4 years old. Just my 2c.

Let me say firstly that you can not rely on magazines for advice. I have heard very excellent equipment sound awful when strung together without listening to how they interact with each other, and your room. ..also, don't buy cheap watts...they usually sound lousy. If you really want to do this right, you should train your ears with what good sound sounds like...go to concerts, and get an excellent earphone setup for listening at home. Headphones.com is a great place to go for advice..they know everything there is to know about the subject. What is very wrong (and what I did throughout my life) was to get a component I wasn't ultimately happy with, and move to the next step. All of those incremental steps were very, very costly.